Seat having adjustable back



Aug. 6, 1935.. W. GLASS SEAT HAVING ADJUSTABLE BACK Filed Oct. 21, 19532 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVE T A ww -k.

Patented Aug. 6, 1935 A v N T TA S PATENT OFFICE William Glass, London,England Application October 21, 1933, Serial No. 694,576

t In Great Britain October 26, 1932 6 Claims. `(Cl. 155-117) l: ,Thepresent invention relates to seats having Figure 3 is a perspective viewof the same Chair adjustable backs and is applicable to various typesfolded up. of seats such as foldingframe chairs with slung Figure 4 is aside view of a Chair having fixed canvas seats, or ohairs With fixedside frames for side frames and with one side frame removed, the

& standing upon a fioor or other surface and with drawing being of amore or less diagrammatic either slung canvas or upholsteredseats Fornature.

c onveniene of description all such will be here- Figure 5 is a similarView of another construc- ,inafter referred to as chair s tion of Chairwith fixed side frames. An object of `the invention is to provide a con-Figure 6 is a view of a fragment of the side of o rstruction of Chairwith back of adjustable inclinaa frame showing a modified form ofreceSS. m

tion and wherein the weight of the person seat'ed Referring first' toFigures 1-3 inclusve, the minthe chairacts to hold the back firmly inthe frame l, which in an Ordinary deck" Chair is adjustedposition.Another object is "to `provide relatively long to constitute the backframe as such a chair which permits of adjustment through well as thefront legs, is made shorter and the side n a range of inclination of theback by a person rals of a Second frame 2 are pivoted at 3 to the useated thereon without "rising from the Chair. upper or rear ends of theside rails of the frame l 'Anotherobject is to provide a foldingframechair the inside thereof. Another frame 4 formng "of the-deck Chairtype with adjustable back Which a seat frame member is provided pivotedto the is practicauy .proof against accidental collaps'ing outside ofthe rails of frame I at 5, this frame when ocpiedand still anotherobject is to proconstituting the backlegs and its front having at- 20Vide a chair of this type `which can be veryie'asily tached to it at 6the front end of the canvas seat jfolded or erected and' Which can befolded into 7,' the rear and upper end of which is attached to aomparatively short length. i the upper end of the frame 2 at B. Thelower In a 'Chair 'according 'to the invention a, back "ends of thesiderails of the frame 2 are provided 5 'name 'is' pivted, at a pointintermediate its ends W h ou w ly projecting pp n members 9andpi'efrably towards the lo'wer end, to a part Which in the erectedposition of the Chair abut on of the frame of the Chair, and the lowerends of the upper surface of the seat frame member 4 bethe ,back' frame`When 'in erected position; or a d t e p v t When the frame 2 is p p memer or members mounted thereon, bear upon dicular to the frame member 4and within a cer- 'the upper surface of the rear portion of a seat tainrange of deviaton from the p p ula 30 frame pivoted' intermedi'ate itsfront and rear position. the friCtCn between the be s 9 nd ends of thesame part of the'frame 'of the Chair the frame member 4 due to theweight of the 'gara point somewhat forward of the lower ends of personusing the chair is sufficient to hold the jtheback'inerected position,So that Weight applied fra 2 d y in the position to which it is adon thefront end of the seat frame will press the just/ed, and within thisrange the inclination of 5 rear end upwards against the lower end of thethe back frame 2 Can be adjusted by a person back frame or the saidmember' or members Seated in C a by p Du l g on the mounted thereon Aflexible seat is connected at upper end 8. TO p t j s e in this manitsfront end in `a hinged manner to the front of beyond the range at Whichfricton Wm hold 4.o th seat n and at its rear end n a, Simflar the backin position, the side rails of the frame 40 manner to the back frame,preferably at or near member 4 arrecssed at H of the e p r e of thelatter. i V recesses constituting stops to llmit the possible In orderthat the invention thus briefiy demovement' The recess may lf desired bed, as designated by l ua to give an improved scribed may be fullyunderstood and carried Into cu'v practice, and to show how the objectshemmbe frictlon giip thloughout the range of ad ustment.

Between the recess lll and the pivot 5 each' side rail fore mentlonedare attalned, It will now be deframe member 4 ispmvded with a notch n.Scribed more fully with reference to the accom- With the seat unoccupedthe Chair can be So panying drawings' Which inu-Straw certain adjustedthat the members 9 engage the notches structional embodiments of theinvention. |2 to provide a reclnng position as shown in 59 In thesedrawings, Figure 2. Fi e 1 i a p p iv v ew of a fo1ding Or To fold theChair, the top of the back at s is deck" Chair in One Open positi n.gripped by one hand and lifted to clear the mem- Fgure 2 is a similarview with the Chair in anbers 9 from the top of the frame member 4, the5 other open position. top 8 is then carried over in the direction ofthe :the front end e of the seat frame member i.

arrow on Figure 1 and the whole folded on to the ground and the foldedChair can then be picked up with the same hand by grasping the thenadjacent front ends of the three frames l, 2 and '1.

The Chair in folded position is shown in Figure 3.

The Chair can also be erected from the folded and carried position bythe employment of only the one hand by a reversal of the operationsjust. mentioned.

The Chair described has many points of advantage. Within the range ofadjustment provided by the recesses li? the back is held very firmly inthe adjusted position by friction due to the weight of the person seatedin the Chair and nevertheless adjustment can be effected by the personseated Without leaving the Chair. Accidental collapsing rom thereclining position (Figure 2) when the Chair is occupied is impossibleas even if the notches 52 were absent the members 9 would be lockedbetween the frames i and When folded up as shown in Figure 3 the lengthis Very much less than in the case of a-n ordinary deck Chair in which aframe such as i is continued to form the back frame. The folded Chair isthus much more convenient to carry.

The upper surfaces of the recesses m may if desired be roughened toprovide an improved frie-- tion grip. Obviously the order of the frames2, l, and member i may be varied in respect of which is the inner one,which the outer one, and which the .middle one. Thus frame 2 may be madethe .outer one, frame i the middle one and frame member tl the innerone. The projections 9 would then be on the inside of the side rails offrame 2 and might be constituted by a' continuous bar between the twoside rails.

l Figure 4 illustr ates a Chair having fixed side frames 13. The seatfra-mevmember l is pivoted to these side frames at 5 and the back frame2 is pivoted thereto at 3. A canvas seat is slung between the upper end8 of the back frame 2 and Recesses li] and notches &2 are provided inthe seat frame member to provide for a range of adjustments similar tothose described in respect of the ,deck Chair illustrated in Figures 1and 2, and as .the sides of the seat frame member i and of the backframe 2 are conveniently in the same plane the members 9 of Figures 1-3are dispensed with member about the pivot 5 and raise the rear por-.tion of the'said frame member towards the pivot 3, thus providing afriction grip between the lower ends a of the sides of the back frameand the upper surface of the sides of the seat frame member. Theconstruction permits of the forward folding .of the back by firstraising the front of 'the seat frame member.

Stops indicated at lt may if desired be provided to limit the possible'movement of the seat frame member when the back is disengaged therefromand folded forwards.

Figure 5 illustrates a Chair which is very similar to that shown inFigure 4. In place of the can- Vas seat however an upholstered seat isprovided formed in two portions 'la and 1b connected together in ahinged manner at 15. The front of the portion 'ib is connected in ahinged manner to the front of the seat frame member at 6 and the top ofthe portion 'la' is similarly connected to the top of the back frame at8.

I claim:

1. A foldable Chair with adjustable back, comprising a back frame and aseat frame member, wherein the back frame is pivoted, at a pointintermediate its ends and preferably towards the lower end, to a part ofthe frame of the Chair and the lower end of the back frame when inerected position bears upon the bottoms of elongated recesses providedon the upper surface of the rear portion of the seat frame member whichis pivoted intermediate its front and rear ends to the same said part ofthe frame of the Chair at a point somewhat forward of the lower end ofthe back frame in erected position, the ends of the said recessesconstituting shoulders limiting the backward and forward adjustment ofthe lower end of the back frame, and wherein a flexible seat isconnected at its front end in a hinged manner to the front end of theseat frame member and at its rear end in a similar manner to the backframe, preferably at or near the upper end of the latter.

2. A foldable Chair according to claim 1, wherein the bottoms of thesaid elongated recesses are curved to give an improved friction gripthroughout the range of adjustment of the back frame.

3. A construction of Chair according to claim 1, in which the seat framemember is adapted to contact with the ground at its rear end and alsothe forward part of the frame to which the back frame and the seat framemember are pivoted.

4. A construction of Chair according to claim 1, in which the part ofthe frame of the Chair to which the back frame and seat frame member arepivoted, comprises rigid side frames adap'ted to rest on the ground andto form the sole support of the Chair.

5. A construction of chair according to claim 1, wherein the bottoms ofthe said elongated recesses are curved to give an improved friction gripthroughout the range of adjustment of the back frame, and the seat framemember is adapted to contact with the ground at its rear end and alsothe forward part of the frame to which the back frame and the seat framemember are pivoted.

6. A construction of chair according to claim 1, wherein the bottoms ofthe said elongated recesses are curved to give an improved friction gripthroughout the range of adjustment of the back frame, and the part ofthe frame of the Chair to which the back frame and seat frame member arepivoted comprises rigid side frames adapted to rest on the ground and toform the sole Support of the Chair.

WILLIAM GLASS.

